Tag: castlevania

“Castlevania” quickly made a name for itself after its 1986 release for the Nintendo Entertainment System, spawning a decades-running series of action-platformers that helped perfect and popularize a hereto unheard of genre. Vampire hunting was certainly nothing new at the time, but “Castlevania” made it original again with the whip-wielding Simon Belmont as he braved Dracula’s castle to put an end to the infernal count’s life.

The music of “Castlevania” was composed by both Kinuyo Yamashita and Satoe Terashima, two veteran musicians who made a name for female video game composers in a time and place when such were rare, though the two worked independently of each other and never fully collaborated on their tracks.

Overall, Castlevania’s soundtrack is surprisingly funky and upbeat for an action game that pits you against the horrors of the undead. From beginning to end, the melodies and percussion will leave you humming even as the unforgiving onslaught of unholy aberrations will make you want to throw your controller in frustration.

Vampire Killer — the theme of the first stage — beautifully illustrates the excitement of the treacherous journey ahead. Another noteworthy track — stage sixteen’s “Out of Time” — managed to cram a lifetime’s worth of thrills into a thirty-second loop. And “Wicked Child” came to be one of the series all-time greatest hits. I hope I’ve honored the Konami Classics on this album. Please listen for yourself and I’d be happy to hear what you think!

I’ve been working on this project for quite a while and it’s ready to see the daylight now…

It’s my personal music Top 50 from the Nintendo Entertainment System! I know there are a lot of debates on which song is the best NES song of all time, etc, but I wanted to make a Grand Tribute to the Golden NES era.

All compositions are originally from the late 80’s / early 90’s and are performed in a new way, with real drums and acoustic instruments, combined with the classic chiptune sounds we all love.

I hope this will be an album that you will enjoy listening as much as I enjoyed making it. Just something you can put on your speakers or headphones anytime you feel like it: on happy saturday evenings, lazy sunday afternoons, going to work on tuesdays etc. It’s a humble tribute to the fantastic originals.

You can listen to the tracks over here of download the album on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify and most other digital music stores and streaming services.